M&R: Death threats against BART officer

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, January 7, 2009

46FB5081.JPG Event on 4/28/04 in San Francisco. Phil Matier and Andy Ross for their column logo. Liz Mangelsdorf / The Chronicle

46FB5081.JPG Event on 4/28/04 in San Francisco. Phil Matier and Andy Ross for their column logo. Liz Mangelsdorf / The Chronicle

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf, SFC

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A copy of a portrait of Oscar Grant taken last month was on display as attorney John Burris, representing the family of Oscar Grant, slain by a BART police officer New Year's Day, held a press conference near his office in Oakland, Calif. on January 4, 2009. less

A copy of a portrait of Oscar Grant taken last month was on display as attorney John Burris, representing the family of Oscar Grant, slain by a BART police officer New Year's Day, held a press conference near ... more

Photo: Courtesy Of Johnson Family

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Attorney John Burris, representing the family of Oscar Grant, slain by a BART police officer New Year's Day, held a press conference near his office in Oakland, Calif. on January 4, 2009.

Attorney John Burris, representing the family of Oscar Grant, slain by a BART police officer New Year's Day, held a press conference near his office in Oakland, Calif. on January 4, 2009.

Photo: Michael Maloney, The Chronicle

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Bobby Johnson (left) comforts his weeping sister, Wanda Johnson as attorney John Burris describes the shooting of Oscar Grant slain by a BART police officer on New Year's Day. The press conference was held near Burris' office in Oakland, Calif. on January 4, 2009. less

Bobby Johnson (left) comforts his weeping sister, Wanda Johnson as attorney John Burris describes the shooting of Oscar Grant slain by a BART police officer on New Year's Day. The press conference was held near ... more

Photo: Michael Maloney, The Chronicle

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Attorney John Burris, (far right) representing the family of Oscar Grant, slain by a BART police officer New Year's Day, held a press conference near his office in Oakland, Calif. on January 4, 2009. At left is Bobby Johnson, uncle to Oscar Grant, and in center, Wanda Johnson, Grant's mother. less

Attorney John Burris, (far right) representing the family of Oscar Grant, slain by a BART police officer New Year's Day, held a press conference near his office in Oakland, Calif. on January 4, 2009. At left is ... more

Photo: Michael Maloney, The Chronicle

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Jimmie Brown, first cousin to Oscar Grant signs a poster at a makeshift memorial at the Fruitvale BART station on January 4, 2009, near where Oscar Grant was shot by a BART officer on New Years Day.

Jimmie Brown, first cousin to Oscar Grant signs a poster at a makeshift memorial at the Fruitvale BART station on January 4, 2009, near where Oscar Grant was shot by a BART officer on New Years Day.

Photo: Michael Maloney, The Chronicle

M&R: Death threats against BART officer

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Johannes Mehserle, the BART police officer who fatally shot a man on the Fruitvale Station platform in Oakland early New Year's Day, is being kept under wraps and moved from place to place after receiving a number of death threats, BART spokesman Linton Johnson confirmed Tuesday night.

Mehserle, 27, a two-year veteran of the BART police force, shot and killed 22-year-old Oscar Grantof Hayward as Grant lay face-down on the station platform following a fight between two groups on a train.

While the nature of the threats hasn't been revealed, Johnson said at least one of the threats was made to Mehserle's family. As a result, he has been moved twice.

Mehserle is described as "devastated" over the shooting, but has yet to give a statement to investigators. Johnson said the delay was caused when Mehserle's attorney showed up at the station within two hours of the shooting and invoked the officer's right to "retain counsel and not say anything."

Probes by BART police and the Alameda County district attorney were further hampered because investigators were off over the holiday weekend.

On Friday, Mehserle's girlfriend had a baby - and then, to further complicate matters, BART passengers' videos of the Fruitvale Station incident began showing up on the airwaves. BART lawyers and brass have been in scramble mode ever since.

Johnson said Mehserle's attorney "has not made it easy to schedule him for an interview, but hopefully he'll be coming in very soon."

Odds are: If Mehserle is charged with a crime in Grant's shooting, it will be a first.

No one we talked with - from the district attorney's office to lawyers who work either side of police shootings - could remember a case in the last 20 years in which an on-duty officer had been charged in a fatal shooting in Alameda County.

"By and large, police officers have been reacting to some type of situation before they shoot someone that usually provides a legal justification," said District Attorney Tom Orloff, who has seen dozens of police shooting cases during his nearly four-decade career as a prosecutor.

Orloff, whose office would ultimately decide whether Mehserle should be charged with anything, hastened to point out that many details about the Fruitvale Station shooting remain unknown and that it is far too early to know whether the case will enter the criminal arena.

The most recent controversial police shooting in Alameda County happened July 25, when Oakland police Officer Hector Jimenezshot a drunken-driving suspect in the back as the man ran from an early morning traffic stop in the Fruitvale District.

Police said Jimenez shot 27-year-old Mack "Jody" Woodfox IIIbecause he thought Woodfox was reaching into his waistband for a gun, although no gun was found. Jimenez gave the same reason for taking part in the fatal shooting New Year's Eve 2007 of another man, Andrew Moppin, who, like Woodfox, turned out to be unarmed.

Police and a deputy from the district attorney's office interviewed Jimenez after the Woodfox shooting, then went out to the scene at night and re-enacted the incident as the officer related it.

The result - although technically the case is still pending, no charges have been filed.

John Burris, the Grant family's attorney, has sued Oakland police on behalf of the Woodfox family, filing a $25 million civil rights suit in federal court.

Burris filed a legal claim in the BART case Tuesday, a precursor to what he says will be another $25 million suit.

"Police don't get charged because D.A.'s and police work together, so they sort of get a pass," Burris said.

"That's why you have lawyers like myself. If you didn't, nothing would be done."

Mayor in waiting: Oakland City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuenteis no stranger to the inner workings of government.

Check out his latest move.

Lacking the interest - or at least the needed five votes - to stay on as council president, De La Fuente opted not to seek a new term this week and instead backed Councilwoman Jane Brunner.

De La Fuente then promptly got himself elected to the lower-profile job of vice mayor.

Now, if Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums lands a Washington appointment within the next year - as has been speculated - Vice Mayor De La Fuente would become Mayor De La Fuente for as long as six months while the city set up a special election.

In which case De La Fuente, who has already run twice for mayor, could conceivably be a candidate.

"I always manage to make it interesting, don't I?" De La Fuente said. "Just when people think I'm dead, I just keep rolling."

The envelope please: Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums should have checked his own son's acting credits before he came out swinging against HBO for using Oakland as the setting for the series "Gentlemen of Leisure," which depicts the life of an aging pimp.

The mayor felt the series would present Oakland in a bad light - just as some think "The Wire" did for Baltimore.

It turns out that Dellums' 44-year-old actor son, Erik Todd Dellums, appeared a half-dozen times in "The Wire." The younger Dellums also played a drug kingpin in several episodes of the popular network show "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Apparently, that was news to the mayor's staffers. When we called them for comment, they were speechless.

Coming out: San Francisco fundraiser Wade Randlettwas at a function Monday night at Van's steakhouse in Washington, D.C., for that other Illinois senator - Dick Durbin- when in walked President-elect Barack Obama.

"The place went from a free-flowing cocktail party to a mosh pit," Randlett said, with 300 or so hard-bitten lobbyists, lawyers and Washington insiders all surging toward the door for a chance to shake Obama's hand.

Or at least snap a camera phone picture of themselves standing near the future president.

Honored guest: In the spirit of welcoming in the new year - and the new Board of Supervisors - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has invited all the members to his Jackson Street digs for a little get-together Friday evening.

One of the first to RSVP was Newsom's longtime nemesis, Supervisor Chris Daly.

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